Celebrating the Life of Aaron Swartz: Nov. 12 and Nov. 13
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/celebrating-life-aaron-swartz-nov-12-and-nov-13
November 11, 2022, 6:35 PM
This weekend, EFF is celebrating the life and work of programmer, activist, and entrepreneur Aaron Swartz by participating in the 2022 Aaron Swartz Day and Hackathon. This year, the event will be held in person at the Internet Archive in San Francisco on Nov. 12 and Nov. 13. It will also be livestreamed; links to the livestream will be posted each morning.
Those interested in attending in-person or remotely can register for the event here.
Aaron Swartz was a digital rights champion who believed ...
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EFF Files Amicus Brief Challenging Orange County, CA’s Controversial DNA Collection Program
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/eff-files-amicus-brief-challenging-orange-county-cas-controversial-dna-collection
November 10, 2022, 10:58 PM
Should the government be allowed to collect your DNA—and retain it indefinitely—if you’re arrested for a low-level offense like shoplifting a tube of lipstick, driving without a valid license, or walking your dog off leash? We don’t think so. As we argue in an amicus brief filed in support of a case called Thompson v. Spitzer at the California Court of Appeal, this practice not only impinges on misdemeanor arrestees’ privacy and liberty rights, but also violates the California Constitu...
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The Rise of the Police-Advertiser
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/rise-police-advertiser
November 9, 2022, 9:31 PM
In August, the Tulsa police department held a press conference about how its new Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), a controversial piece of surveillance technology, was the policing equivalent of “turning the lights on” for the first time. In Ontario, California, the city put out a press release about how its ALPRs were a “vital resource.” In Madison, South Dakota, local news covered how the city’s expenditure of $30,000 for ALPRs “paid off” twice in two days.  
All these s...
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EFF Award Winner: Kyle Wiens
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/eff-award-winner-kyle-wiens
November 9, 2022, 8:44 PM
For over thirty years, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has awarded those paving the way for freedom and innovation in the digital world. Countless luminaries working in digital privacy and free speech gathered for this Pioneer Award Ceremony in San Francisco over the decades. This year, we are excited to relaunch that annual celebration as the first-ever EFF Awards!
The EFF Awards is a new ceremony dedicated to the growing digital rights communities whose technical, social, economic, an...
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Sacramento County Resident Joins EFF Lawsuit After Illegal Sharing of His Electricity Usage Data Makes Him a Target of Law Enforcement
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/sacramento-county-resident-joins-eff-lawsuit-after-illegal-sharing-his-electricity
November 9, 2022, 6:54 PM
The Sacramento County Utility District (SMUD) and the Sacramento Police Department are running an illegal data sharing scheme, with the police making bulk requests for customers’ energy usage data to enforce a cannabis grow ordinance, according to a new EFF lawsuit.The secret data sharing arrangement violates SMUD customers’ privacy rights under state law and the California Constitution, while disproportionately subjecting Asian and Asian American communities to police scrutiny.Alfonso Nguye...
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The Filter Mandate Bill Is a Privacy and Security Mess
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/filter-mandate-bill-privacy-and-security-mess
November 8, 2022, 11:32 PM
Among its many other problems, the Strengthening Measures to Advance Rights Technologies Copyright Act would mandate a slew of filtering technologies that online service providers must "accommodate." And that mandate is broad, so poorly-conceived, and so technically misguided that it will inevitably create serious privacy and security risks. 
Since 1998, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has required services to accommodate "standard technical measures" to reduce infringement. The DMC...
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EFF Award Winner: Digital Defense Fund
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/eff-award-winner-digital-defense-fund
November 8, 2022, 7:27 PM
For over thirty years, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has awarded those paving the way for freedom and innovation in the digital world. Countless luminaries working in digital privacy and free speech gathered for this Pioneer Award Ceremony in San Francisco over the decades. This year, we are excited to relaunch that annual celebration as the first-ever EFF Awards!
The EFF Awards is a new ceremony dedicated to the growing digital rights communities whose technical, social, economic, an...
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Demand Your Right to Repair in New York State
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/demand-your-right-repair-new-york-state-0
November 8, 2022, 6:43 PM
New York's legislature passed a landmark right-to-repair bill this year. Now it's up to Governor Hochul to make it law.
Back in June, we asked New Yorkers to contact your Assemblymembers about the Digital Fair Repair Act, a landmark repair bill in New York. The bill passed the state legislature, but today it sits on Governor Hochul’s desk waiting to be signed. New Yorkers: we need you to speak up today to expand your digital rights. Tell Governor Hochul to support A7006-B (Fahy), which would m...
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EFF Award Winner: Alaa Abd El-Fattah
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/eff-award-winner-alaa-abd-el-fattah
November 7, 2022, 6:55 PM
For over thirty years, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has awarded those paving the way for freedom and innovation in the digital world. Countless luminaries working in digital privacy and free speech gathered for this Pioneer Award Ceremony in San Francisco over the decades. This year, we are excited to relaunch that annual celebration as the first-ever EFF Awards!
The EFF Awards is a new ceremony dedicated to the growing digital rights communities whose technical, social, economic, an...
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Turkey's New Disinformation Law Spells Trouble For Free Expression
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/turkeys-new-disinformation-law-spells-trouble-free-expression
November 7, 2022, 3:16 PM
Turkey’s government recently passed a new law aimed at curbing disinformation that citizens have dubbed the “censorship law,” according to reports. The new law was met with condemnation from both inside the country and abroad.
Troublingly, the vaguely-worded law, passed by parliament on October 13, prescribes three years’ imprisonment for anyone who publishes “false information” with the intent to “instigate fear or panic” or “endanger the country’s security, public order and...
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Stop the Copyright Creep
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/stop-copyright-creep
November 1, 2022, 6:25 PM
In 2020, two copyright-related proposals became law despite the uproar against them. The first was the unconstitutional CASE Act. The second was a felony streaming proposal that had never been seen or debated in public. In fact, its inclusion was in the news before its text was ever made public. The only way to find it was when the 6,000-page year-end omnibus was published. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
Take Action
Tell Congress to Stop the Copyright Creep
No copyright propos...
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EU Lawmakers Must Reject This Proposal To Scan Private Chats
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/eu-lawmakers-must-reject-proposal-scan-private-chats
October 19, 2022, 10:02 PM
Having a private conversation is a basic human right. Like the rest of our rights, we shouldn’t lose it when we go online. But a new proposal by the European Union could throw our privacy rights out the window. 
LEARN MORE
Tell the European Parliament: Stop Scanning Me
The European Union’s executive body is pushing ahead with a proposal that could lead to mandatory scanning of every private message, photo, and video. The EU Commission wants to open the intimate data of our digital lives up ...
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Better Regulating Drone Use Requires Communication, Not Surveillance
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/better-regulating-drone-use-requires-communication-not-surveillance
October 19, 2022, 9:17 PM
In 2018, Congress gave the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security sweeping new authorities to destroy or commandeer privately-owned drones, as well as intercept the data it sends and receives. EFF objected to The Preventing Emerging Threats Act of 2018 (S. 2836, H.R. 6401) because, among other things, the bill authorized DOJ and DHS to “track,” “disrupt,” “control,” “seize or otherwise confiscate,” “mitigate” or even “destroy” unmanned aircraft that pose a “credib...
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Spanish ISPs Fall Short of Robust Commitments to User Privacy in New Eticas’ Report
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/spanish-isps-fall-short-robust-commitments-user-privacy-new-eticas-report
October 19, 2022, 8:38 PM
Spanish Internet Service Providers (ISPs) continue to fall short of robust transparency about their data protection and user privacy practices, with many failing to meet criteria  that directly builds on Spanish and EU data protection regulations.
While highlighting that internet companies in Spain need to step up their user privacy game, Eticas Foundation’s third edition of ¿Quien Defiende Tus Datos? (Who Defends Your Data?) Spain showed that Movistar (Telefónica) maintained a leadership ...
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Alaa Abd El Fattah Surpasses 200 Days of Hunger Strike as COP27 Summit Nears
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/alaa-abd-el-fattah-surpasses-200-days-hunger-strike-cop27-summit-nears
October 19, 2022, 4:33 PM
We remain gravely concerned about the deteriorating health of Alaa Abd El Fattah, the British-Egyptian activist, technologist, 2022 EFF Award winner, and Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience. Alaa has now been on hunger strike at Wadi el Natrun Prison in Egypt for more than 200 days, and was reported this week as being “at death’s door” by the UK’s Independent.
World leaders, including UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, are set to gather soon in Egypt for the COP27 climate summit, despite the countr...
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Global Coalition Calls on UK Foreign Secretary to Secure the Release of Salma al-Shehab
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/global-coalition-calls-uk-foreign-secretary-secure-release-salma-al-shehab
October 17, 2022, 8:16 AM
15 October 2022 
Dear Foreign Secretary, 
On behalf of the below signed organisations, we would like to congratulate your appointment as Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs. At a time of significant global uncertainty and unrest, the UK can and must play a leading role in promoting human rights globally. While we appreciate the wide and diverse range of issues facing you and your department, we are contacting you today to draw your attention to the treatment of...
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Stop the Persecution: Iranian Authorities Must Immediately Release Technologists and Digital Rights Defenders
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/stop-persecution-iranian-authorities-must-immediately-release-technologists-and-0
October 14, 2022, 4:31 PM
Update, November 9, 2022: We are happy to announce that Aryan Eqbal has been released along with other digital rights defenders. Jadi Mirmirani remains wrongfully detained. We will continue to monitor the situation.
We, the undersigned human rights organizations, strongly condemn the Iranian authorities’ ruthless persecution, harassment, and arrest of technologists and digital rights defenders amid the deadly crackdown on nationwide protests, and demand their immediate and unconditional relea...
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The Internet Is Not Facebook: Why Infrastructure Providers Should Stay Out of Content Policing
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/internet-not-facebook-why-infrastructure-providers-should-stay-out-content
October 13, 2022, 6:56 PM
Cloudflare’s recent headline-making decision to refuse its services to KiwiFarms—a site notorious for allowing its users to wage harassment campaigns against trans people—is likely to lead to more calls for infrastructure companies to police online speech. Although EFF would shed no tears at the loss of KiwiFarms (which is still online as of this writing), Cloudflare’s decision re-raises fundamental, and still unanswered, questions about the role of such companies in shaping who can, and...
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First Court in California Suppresses Evidence from Overbroad Geofence Warrant
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/california-court-suppresses-evidence-overbroad-geofence-warrant
October 11, 2022, 8:58 PM
A California trial court has held a geofence warrant issued to the San Francisco Police Department violated the Fourth Amendment and California’s landmark electronic communications privacy law, CalECPA. The court suppressed evidence stemming from the warrant, becoming the first court in California to do so. EFF filed an amicus brief early on in the case, arguing geofence warrants are unconstitutional.
The case is People v. Dawes and involved a 2018 burglary in a residential neighborhood. Priva...
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Digital Rights Updates with EFFector 34.5
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/digital-rights-updates-effector-345
October 7, 2022, 5:43 PM
Want the latest news on your digital rights? Well, you're in luck! Version 34, issue 5 of our EFFector newsletter is out now. Catch up on the latest EFF news by reading our newsletter or listening to the audio version below. This issue covers EFF's current work, including our investigation into Fog Data Science, our guide to better privacy practices for nonprofit organizations, and our video and essay on how an interoperable Facebook of the future could work.
LISTEN ON YouTube
EFFECTOR 34.5 - Ho...
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Copyright Trolls Target Users in Brazil, Threatening Due Process and Data Protection Rights. Civil Society Groups Are There to Help
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/copyright-trolls-target-users-brazil-threatening-due-process-and-data-protection
October 7, 2022, 5:18 PM
Copyright trolls typically don’t produce or distribute content, but instead make money off of copyrighted material by using the threat of litigation to shake down people who allegedly download movies and other content over the internet—a business model that invites harassment and abuse. These entities operate in many countries around the world, and have recently cropped up in Brazil, with predatory practices that threaten the due process, privacy, and data protection rights of thousands of i...
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Derechos Digitales Raises the Bar for Chilean ISPs' Privacy Commitments in New Report
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/derechos-digitales-raises-bar-chilean-isps-privacy-commitments-new-report
October 7, 2022, 4:40 PM
Chile’s internet service providers (ISPs) have over the last five years improved transparency about how they protect their users’ data, thanks in large part to Latin American digital rights group Derechos Digitales shining a light on their practices through annual ¿Quien Defiende Tus Datos? (Who Defends Your Data?) reports.
Better transparency about when and how ISPs turn data over to the government is a win for Chile’s mobile and internet users, but increased state surveillance demands a...
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A National Lab Is Promoting a "Digital Police Officer" Fantasy for Law Enforcement and Border Control
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/national-lab-promoting-digital-police-officer-fantasy-law-enforcement-and-border
October 6, 2022, 9:23 PM
Researchers at a national laboratory are forecasting a future where police and border agents are assisted by artificial intelligence, not as a software tool but as an autonomous partner capable of taking the steering wheel during pursuits and scouring social media to target people for closer investigation. The "Digital Police Officer" or "D-PO" is presented as a visionary concept, but the proposal reads like a pitch for the most dystopian buddy cop movie ever.
The research team is based out of ...
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Court’s Decision Upholding Disastrous Texas Social Media Law Puts The State, Rather Than Internet Users, in Control of Everyone’s Speech Online
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/courts-decision-upholding-disastrous-texas-social-media-law-puts-state-rather
October 6, 2022, 5:54 PM
The First Amendment and the freedom of speech and expression it provides has helped make the internet what it is today: a place for diverse communities, support networks, and forums of all stripes to share information and connect people. Individuals and groups exercise their constitutional right to host and moderate sites that offer a common place for people who share a hobby, a religious belief, a political opinion, or a love for a particular kind of music.Online platforms, from Facebook to you...
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Snowflake Makes It Easy For Anyone to Fight Censorship
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/snowflake-makes-it-easy-anyone-fight-censorship
October 4, 2022, 10:40 PM
Tor, the onion router, remains one of the most effective censorship circumvention technologies. Millions of people use the Tor network every day to access the internet without fear of surveillance and censorship.
Most people get on the Tor network by downloading the Tor Browser and connecting to a relay. But some countries, such as Iran and Russia, block direct access to the Tor network. In those countries people have to use what are known as “Tor Bridges” to circumvent national firewalls. T...
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New Federal and State Court Rulings Show Courts are Divided on the Scope of Cell Phone Searches Post-Riley
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/new-federal-and-state-court-rulings-show-courts-are-divided-scope-cell-phone
October 4, 2022, 7:44 PM
This blog post was co-written with EFF Legal Intern Allie Schiele
There is no dispute that cell phones contain a lot of personal information. The Supreme Court recognized in 2014 in Riley v. California that a cell phone is “not just another technological convenience. With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans ‘the privacies of life’.” For this reason, the Court held that the police generally need a warrant to search one. But what happens when police do ge...
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California Leads on Reproductive and Trans Health Data Privacy
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/california-leads-reproductive-and-trans-health-data-privacy
October 1, 2022, 6:21 PM
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, anti-choice sheriffs and bounty hunters will try to investigate and punish abortion seekers based on their internet browsing, private messaging, and phone app location data. We can expect similar tactics from state officials who claim that parents who allow their transgender youth to receive gender-affirming health care should be investigated for child abuse.
So it is great news that California Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed three bills that wi...
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EFF to NJ court: Give defendants information regarding police use of facial recognition technology
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/eff-nj-court-give-defendants-information-regarding-police-use-facial-recognition
September 30, 2022, 9:42 PM
We’ve all read the news stories: study after study shows that facial recognition algorithms are not always reliable, and that error rates spike significantly when involving faces of folks of color, especially Black women, as well as trans and nonbinary people. Yet this technology is widely used by law enforcement for identifying suspects in criminal investigations. By refusing to disclose the specifics of that process, law enforcement have effectively prevented criminal defendants from challen...
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Victory! Court Unseals Records Showing Patent Troll’s Shakedown Efforts
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/victory-court-unseals-records-showing-patent-trolls-shakedown-efforts
September 30, 2022, 9:02 PM
EFF has prevailed in a years-long effort to make public a series of court records that show how a notorious patent troll, Uniloc, uses litigation threats to extracts payments from a variety of businesses.
Uniloc earlier this month complied with a federal district court’s unsealing order by making public redacted versions of several previously sealed documents. That ended more than three years’ worth of litigation, including two appeals, in which EFF sought public access to judicial records i...
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Google Loses Appeal Against EU's Record Antitrust Fine, But Will Big Tech Ever Change?
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/google-loses-appeal-against-eus-record-antitrust-fine-will-big-tech-ever-change
September 29, 2022, 6:12 PM
The EU continues to crack down on big tech companies with its full arsenal of antitrust rules. This month, Google lost its appeal against a record fine, now slightly trimmed to €4.13 billion, for abusing its dominant position through the tactics it used to keep traffic on Android devices flowing through to the Google search engine. The EU General Court largely upheld the EU Commission’s decision from 2018 that Google had imposed unlawful restrictions on manufacturers of Android mobile device...
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Automated License Plate Readers Threaten Abortion Access. Here's How Policymakers Can Mitigate the Risk
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/automated-license-plate-readers-threaten-abortion-access-heres-how-policymakers
September 28, 2022, 5:23 PM
Over the last decade, a vast number of law enforcement agencies around the country have adopted a mass surveillance technology that uses cameras to track the vehicles of every driver on the road, with little thought or respect given to the ways this technology might be abused. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling, that technology may soon be turned against people seeking abortions, the people who support them, and the workers who provide reproductive healthcare.
We're talki...
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EFF Urges FTC to Address Security and Privacy Problems in Daycare and Early Education Apps
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-urges-ftc-address-security-and-privacy-problems-daycare-and-early-education-apps
September 28, 2022, 4:11 PM
An EFF study found the apps compromise young children’s data, and current laws don’t address the problem.SAN FRANCISCO—The Federal Trade Commission must review the lack of privacy and security protections among daycare and early education apps, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged Wednesday in a letter to Chair Lina Khan.
Daycare and preschool applications frequently include notifications of feedings, diaper changes, pictures, activities, and which guardian picked up or dropped o...
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Google’s Perilous Plan for a Cloud Center in Saudi Arabia is an Irresponsible Threat to Human Rights
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/googles-perilous-plan-cloud-center-saudi-arabia-irresponsible-threat-human-rights
September 27, 2022, 2:59 PM
On August 9, a Saudi woman was sentenced to 34 years in prison by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s notorious specialized criminal court in Riyadh. Her crime? Having a Twitter account and following and retweeting dissidents and activists.
That same day, a federal jury in San Francisco convicted a former Twitter employee of money laundering and other charges for spying—on behalf of the kingdom—on Twitter users critical of the Saudi government.
These are just the latest examples of Saudi Arabia...
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Ban Government Use of Face Recognition In the UK
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/ban-government-use-face-recognition-uk
September 26, 2022, 6:20 PM
In 2015, Leicestershire Police scanned the faces of 90,000 individuals at a music festival in the UK and checked these images against a database of people suspected of crimes across Europe. This was the first known deployment of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) at an outdoor public event in the UK. In the years since, the surveillance technology has been frequently used throughout the country with little government oversight and no electoral mandate. 
Face recognition presents an inherent threat t...
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Study of Electronic Monitoring Smartphone Apps Confirms Advocates’ Concerns of Privacy Harms
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/study-electronic-monitoring-smartphone-apps-confirms-advocates-concerns-privacy
September 23, 2022, 5:35 PM
Researchers at the University of Washington and Harvard Law School recently published a groundbreaking study analyzing the technical capabilities of 16 electronic monitoring (EM) smartphone apps used as “alternatives” to criminal and civil detention. The study, billed as the “first systematic analysis of the electronic monitoring apps ecosystem,” confirmed many advocates’ fears that EM apps allow access to wide swaths of information, often contain third-party trackers, and are frequent...
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San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors Grants Police More Surveillance Powers
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/san-franciscos-board-supervisors-grants-police-more-surveillance-powers
September 22, 2022, 5:24 PM
In a 4-7 vote, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors passed a 15-month pilot program granting the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) more live surveillance powers. This was despite the objections of a diverse coalition of community groups and civil rights organizations, residents, the Bar Association of San Francisco, and even members of the city’s Police Commission, a civilian oversight body comprising of mayoral and Board appointees. The ordinance, backed by the Mayor and the SFPD, enab...
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Lawsuit: SMUD and Sacramento Police Violate State Law and Utility Customers’ Privacy by Sharing Data Without a Warrant
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/lawsuit-smud-and-sacramento-police-violate-state-law-and-utility-customers-privacy
September 22, 2022, 2:37 PM
The public power utility and police racially profiled Asian communities in the illegal data-sharing scheme.SACRAMENTO—The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) searches entire zip codes’ worth of people’s private data and discloses it to police without a warrant or any suspicion of wrongdoing, according to a privacy lawsuit filed Wednesday in Sacramento County Superior Court.
SMUD’s bulk disclosure of customer utility data turns its entire customer base into potential leads for po...
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How to Ditch Facebook Without Losing Your Friends (Or Family, Customers or Communities)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/how-ditch-facebook-without-losing-your-friends-or-family-customers-or-communities
September 19, 2022, 4:44 PM
Today, we launch “How to Ditch Facebook Without Losing Your Friends” - a narrated slideshow and essay explaining how Facebook locks in its users, how interoperability can free them, and what it would feel like to use an “interoperable Facebook” of the future, such as the one contemplated by the US ACCESS Act.


%3Ciframe%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fembed%2Finteroperable-facebook%22%20webkitallowfullscreen%3D%22true%22%20mozallowfullscreen%3D%22true%22%20allowfulls...
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Giving Big Corporations “Closed Generic” Top-Level Domain Names to Run as Private Kingdoms Is Still a Bad Idea
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/giving-big-corporations-closed-generic-top-level-domain-names-run-private-kingdoms
September 16, 2022, 9:50 PM
No business can own the generic word for the product it sells. We would find it preposterous if a single airline claimed exclusive use of the word “air,” or a broadband service tried to stop its rivals from using the word “broadband.” Until this year, it seemed settled that the internet’s top-level domain names (like .com, .org, and so on) would follow the same obvious rule. Alas, ICANN (the California nonprofit that governs the global domain name system) seems intent on taking domains...
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EFF’s DEF CON 30 Puzzle—SOLVED
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/effs-def-con-30-puzzle-solved
September 15, 2022, 9:48 PM
Puzzlemaster Aaron Steimle of the Muppet Liberation Front contributed to this post.
Every year, EFF joins thousands of computer security professionals, tinkerers, and hobbyists for Hacker Summer Camp, the affectionate term used for the series of Las Vegas technology conferences including BSidesLV, Black Hat, DEF CON, and more. EFF has a long history of standing with online creators and security researchers at events like these for the benefit of all tech users. We’re proud to honor this commun...
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It’s Time For A Federal Anti-SLAPP Law To Protect Online Speakers
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/its-time-federal-anti-slapp-law-protect-online-speakers
September 15, 2022, 7:47 PM
Our country’s fair and independent courts exist to resolve serious disputes. Unfortunately, some parties abuse the civil litigation process to silence others’ speech, rather than resolve legitimate claims. These types of censorious lawsuits have been dubbed Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPPs, and they have been on the rise over the past few decades. 
Plaintiffs who bring SLAPPs intend to use the high cost of litigation to harass, intimidate, and silence critics who a...
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Members of Congress Urge FTC to Investigate Fog Data Science
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/members-congress-urge-ftc-investigate-fog-data-science
September 15, 2022, 7:30 PM
In the week since EFF and the Associated Press exposed how Fog Data Science purchases geolocation data on hundreds of millions of digital devices in the United States, and maps them for easy-to-use and cheap mass surveillance by police, elected officials have voiced serious concerns about this dangerous tech.
In a strong letter to Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Rep. Anna Eshoo of California on Tuesday criticized the “significant Fourth Amendment search and seizure...
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The Fight to Overturn FOSTA, an Unconstitutional Internet Censorship Law, Continues
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/fight-overturn-fosta-unconstitutional-internet-censorship-law-continues
September 15, 2022, 6:04 PM
More than four years after its enactment, FOSTA remains an unconstitutional law that broadly censored the internet and harmed sex workers and others by chilling their ability to speak, organize, and access information online.
And the fight to overturn FOSTA continues. Last week, two human rights organizations, a digital library, a sex worker activist, and a certified massage therapist filed their opening brief in a case that seeks to strike down the law for its many constitutional violations.
...
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San Francisco Police Must End Irresponsible Relationship with the Northern California Fusion Center
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/san-francisco-police-must-end-irresponsible-relationship-northern-california
September 15, 2022, 12:57 PM
In yet another failure to follow the rules, the San Francisco Police Department is collaborating with the regional fusion center with nothing in writing—no agreements, no contracts, nothing— governing the relationship, according to new records released to EFF in its ongoing complaint against the agency.
This means that there is no document in place that establishes the limits and responsibilities for sharing and handling criminal justice data or intelligence between SFPD and the fusion cent...
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EFF’s “Cover Your Tracks” Will Detect Your Use of iOS 16’s Lockdown Mode
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/effs-cover-your-tracks-will-detect-your-use-ios-16s-lockdown-mode
September 12, 2022, 5:57 PM
Apple’s new iOS 16 offers a powerful tool for its most vulnerable users. Lockdown Mode reduces the avenues attackers have to hack into users’ phones by disabling certain often-exploited features. While providing a solid defense against intrusion, it is also trivial to detect that this new feature is enabled on a device. Our web fingerprinting tool Cover Your Tracks has incorporated detection of Lockdown Mode and alerts the user that we’ve determined they have this mode enabled.
Over the l...
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U.S. Federal Employees Can Take A Stand for Digital Freedoms
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/us-federal-employees-can-take-stand-digital-freedoms
September 9, 2022, 3:29 PM
It’s that time of the year again when the weather starts to cool down and the leaves start to turn all different shades and colors. More importantly, it is also time for U.S. federal employees to pledge their support for digital freedoms through the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC)!
The pledge period for the CFC is underway and EFF needs your help. Last year, U.S. federal employees raised over $34,000 for EFF through the CFC, helping us fight for free expression, privacy, and innovation on the ...
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EFF to California Governor: Protect Abortion Data Privacy
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/eff-california-governor-protect-abortion-data-privacy
September 8, 2022, 11:28 PM
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, anti-choice sheriffs and bounty hunters will try to investigate and punish abortion seekers based on their internet browsing, private messaging, and phone app location data. Legislators must act now to protect this personal data. Reproductive justice requires data privacy.
That’s why EFF urges California Governor Gavin Newsom to sign A.B. 1242, authored by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan. This bill would protect the data privacy of people...
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VICTORY: Slack Offers Retention Settings to Free Workspaces
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/victory-slack-offers-retention-settings-free-workspaces
September 7, 2022, 9:26 PM
In a victory for users, Slack has fixed its long-standing retention problems for free workspaces. Instead of holding onto your messages on its servers for as long as your workspace exists, Slack is now giving free workspace admins the option to automatically delete all messages older than 90 days. This basic ability to decide which information Slack should keep and which information it should delete should be available to all users, and we applaud Slack for making this change.
The new retention ...
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FTC Sues Location Data Broker
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/ftc-sues-location-data-broker
September 7, 2022, 9:22 PM
Phone app location data brokers are a growing menace to our privacy and safety. All you did was click a box while downloading an app. Now the app tracks your every move and sends it to a broker, which then sells your location data to the highest bidder.
So three cheers for the Federal Trade Commission for seeking to end this harmful marketplace! The FTC recently sued Kochava, a location data broker, alleging the company violated a federal ban on unfair business practices. The FTC’s complaint a...
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EFF to Ninth Circuit: Social Media Content Moderation is Not "State Action"
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/eff-ninth-circuit-social-media-content-moderation-not-state-action
September 7, 2022, 8:30 PM
Former EFF intern Shashank Sirivolu contributed to this blog post.  
Social media users who have sued companies for deleting, demonetizing, and otherwise moderating their content have tried several arguments that this violates their constitutional rights. Courts have consistently ruled against them because social media platforms themselves have the First Amendment right to moderate content. The government and the courts cannot tell them what speech they must remove or, on the flip side, what ...
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